Star Wars: Return of the Jedi (1983)

Luke Be a Jedi Tonight!

***This Review Contains Spoilers***

It’s not easy calling Return of the Jedi your favourite Star Wars film. Were as when someone says The Empire Strikes Back is their favourite they get cheers from the crowd. Call Return of the Jedi your favourite you get boos and hisses followed by a rigorous defense of your opinion. Well, it could be worse; those who call the prequels their favourite usually get stoned or hanged by a lynch mob.

I find Return of the Jedi to be the film in the series which satisfies me the most. I like how it combines elements from both A New Hope and The Empire Strikes Back from Hope’s light-hearted nature and the nostalgic return to Tatooine, to Empire’s darker nature with Luke confronting Vader and the Emperor. But when I think Return of the Jedi I think red wood forests. The forest moon of Endor is such a splendour to look at, and once again proves that Planet Earth is the greatest movie set of all. Having a second Death Star sounds like a lazy idea on paper but I fell they get away with it due to the immaculate execution. The film’s final battle involves ships navigating through the tunnels and into the center of the battle station making for a dogfight even more exciting than that from A New Hope. This movie also has Bikini Leia, just saying.

Let’s talk about Ewoks, shall we? The dismissive statements towards these creatures that the empire was brought down by a bunch of teddy bears I find to be very close-minded. I completely agree with George Lucas that they showcase how it is possible for a primitive race to bring down a technologically advanced superpower such the empire as inspired by the Viet Cong’s offense against the Americans during the Vietnam War. I like this message as it’s true that the most advanced technology isn’t always the best means; sometimes less is more. I know many say the idea of Ewoks helping bring down the Empire was highly improbable. Well, my answer to that is remember Yoda’s lesson in The Empire Strikes Back, “Judge me by my size so you?”. George Lucas is alot of things (most anger-inducing) but a greedy businessman who would create characters purely so he could market them as toys is not one of the; just look at the man’s charitable activities. If he really wanted money he would have released the original unaltered trilogy on DVD. At least the Ewok’s reputation has improved a little bit over time with fans now redirecting their hatred towards Jar Jar Binks; plus they’re cute little guys! Likewise, Return of the Jedi has too many puppets? I’m used to hearing people complain about movies which use too much CGI but a movie using too many practical effects, that’s a new one. The creature department and their astounding levels of creativity employed for Return of the Jedi hit it out of the park; it’s just a shame people look at this cynically and say they were just trying to sell toys.

My favourite action scene in any movie ever is a toss between the final car chase in The Blues Brothers and the escape from Jabba in Return of the Jedi (with the speeder bike chase being not far behind that). Talk about a “How are they going to get out of that?” moment; in which they do in a convincing, heart racing like crazy manner. I love how the escape is one big elaborate plan which all our heroes are in on. Also, I never understood people’s love affair with Boba Fett, so his death didn’t bother me. To the contrary I find his death to be interesting in how unconventional it is; this tough badass who doesn’t go out with a band, but rather dies in a humiliating fashion. I was more concerned with Lando being on the cusp of death! While it’s impossible to go into these movies for the first time fresh unless you’ve spent your whole life under a rock, but I didn’t have previous knowledge that Luke and Leia are brother and sister; which is one surprise the original Star Wars trilogy had for me.

The second half of Return of the Jedi is one of the most intense, involving and grand cinematic experiences. Cutting between the assault on the imperial cruisers and the second death star, the assault on Endor and the powerful emotions when Luke is confronting Vader and the Emperor; it perplexes me that people can put down this movie so much. Plus if Vader’s unmasking doesn’t get you teary-eyed then there is no hope for you. Revenge of the Sith a Shakespearean tragedy? Pfft, please. This is proper storytelling tragedy. I couldn’t ask for a better finale to a better trilogy. Ah, Return of the Jedi, I know people give you flak but to me, you’re perfect the way you are, Ewoks and all.